Hi all

As mentioned in this thread http://www.fordmods.com/forums/viewtopic.php?t=65171, I picked up my newly aquired ED wagon on Friday. It was advertised as mechanically OK and I imagined, with a little work, I could drive the car home from Bennetts Green on the NSW north coast to Riverstone in the west, about 130K.

We, as in myself, Paulmac and BenJ, got there and the car was on the side of the road ready to be taken away. We needed to reinstall the headlights, bolt down the seats and install a new battery. Oh, the car had been mildly stripped as someone had started some interior work and had removed the headlights. We thought maybe they were in the throws of an XR front end conversion.

Anyway, once all that was done, we fired it up and found the engine starved out a little so we thought there was probably bad fuel in the tank and we would get it to a gas station as the first option. Our plan was to get it to Paulmac's place in the first instance and complete our preparations for the trip home.

I drove the ED following Ben but things didn't start out too well. Running ruff as guts, I managed to get to the first set of lights before the engine just died. A bit of cranking and she fired up again, still stumbling badly and not wanting to decelerate, idle properly or accelerate away smoothly. We continued until the next red light at which the car died again. Once again, more cranking, she fired and we got to the gas station. Put in $40.00 of fuel and started off again. NExt red light, which was coincendentally on a down hill, the car died again and wouldn't start luckily I could roll around the corner out of the way and got it fired again. While trying a U turn the car once again died, this time not wanting to start and the battery is now struggling. So we pushed it back across the road onto a flat bit and it fired once again. Down the road alittle, turned into a drivewway and it stopped...again. This time the battery would not start it so we pushed it out again and parked it on the side of the road.

The ECU looked a little dodgy so just in case we changed it for one Ben had brought with him. About this stage (or sometime before - can't quite remember) we checked fluids and found the trans has some icky coloured brown stuff in it. Bugger it, lets just get it back to Pauls and deal with it there. After a jump start from Ben, the ED fired again and we continued, this time with Paul driving as he knew the area and could time things like lights etc. We finally got onto a small freeway and Paul opened it up. By this time the engine was playing along a little better as the old fuel got used up and replaced by the good fuel. However, we had smoke starting to appear out the back so we thought we better pull over to see what was going on. After checkig things in the engine bay, a quick look underneath had Paul issuing expletives. The trans was spewing brown mess out of the breather which was of course going all over the exhaust. We deduced that the trans was infact full of water and didn't like it much. It still changed OK though. The fuel was till a little dodgy so we disconnected the fuel line and ran the pump a little bit to spit out whatever greeblies were in there. Again we required a jump from Ben and took off to Pauls.

We decided that a trans kit was in order so we eventually got home and stuck the car up on ramps. The engine at least was playing nicely by now however all the pulleys were making noises. Hmmm we think. Meanwhile the trans is happily spewing it's contents all over Pauls driveway. So we take off to Bursons while the trans cools down, grab some trans fluid and a filter kit and return to do the deed. When we got back the trans had indeed settled down, so it was off with the pan. You should have seen the gunk that came out of that trans, horrible soupy brown sludge with water floating on top. We got as much out as we could and figured that 5 litres of new trans fluid should do the trick even though we couldn't drain the lines and converter.

By this time I am too late to pick up my kids from school back in Rivo so a quick call to my wife settled that. A quick test drive and it was decided that the ED was going OK - good engine response and the trans was changing fine - so we decided to convoy back to Sydney - Ben in front, me in the middle in the ED and Paul in back. Ben had brought walky talkies so we could contact each other if anything went wrong with the ED on the way back.

It all started well and the ED reached the required 110 on the freeway but had a bad vibration. Paul and I thought tyres but the vibration got steadily worse and the trip continued. By this time I am suspecting the trans and a check in the rear view mirror confirmed that as the smoke once again arrived, heavier on the uphill sections and less on the flat and downhill. We arrived back in Pennant Hills around peak hour which was not a good thing. By this time smoke from under the car was billowing out every time I stopped. The gear changes were getting more harsh so we had to get off the main road. Eventually we managed that and took backroads without too many lights and less traffic. Finally I drove in our driveway and not a moment too soon and the 1 - 2 changes were getting strained and very harsh, accompanied by some cool whirring sounds. It spewed it's final amount of fluid/water mix all over my driveway (it was more reddy this time around!) and also all over Pauls windscreen on the way down.

What we could figure is this car has been in a flood at some stage. There is silt everywhere inside, none of the dash electrics work (fan, wipers, air con etc) and of course the trans was full of water. The engine also showed signs of having been in water at some stage as it has tell tale white sludge inside the oil filler cap but it did not use any coolant or have any signs of water in the oil. Nothing was said about this when I bought the car.

Still, I now have a perfect bodied, perfect suspensioned, perfect interiored ED wagon as my base project family car. It has a camber/caster kit in it and a cooler on the steering rack. It hasn't got a towbar or trans cooler but will have those off my donor EA II wagon as well as the LPG system from the EA II. While I can't drive it around this week like I had hoped to do, the EF engine I have will go in with (possibly) an 85LE trans to fix that side of things but a few bits for the dash electrics/electronics and it should be good as new....ish.

So theres the saga. Ben has a few piccies that he might post if he feels so inclined.

Cheers
Bruce

If its been in a flood it may not be perfectly bodied for long, keep a good eye around for rust.

So... with paulmac and benj looking over your shoulder, I wonder how long until you finish that XR6 front conversion :p

f**k what a headache that wouldve been. Good to see you got the thing home okay. What did you pay for it?



I hope he washed the fluid off quickly cause it can be corrosive to paint !!

by law you are legally required to disclose the car had been wet...i would be spitting chips..

Damn, oh well, it can only get better from this point on, right?

I got the ED for $510.00 off ebay. The trans issue doesn't really bother me as I was after a straight body and suspension to build into a nice family traveller...with extras. I still think that for $510.00 I got a good deal. I think now that the interior has been transplanted from somewhere else as it sort of doesn't fit with the whole water thing the rest of the car shows. Still, at some time in the future it will get another interior upgrade. As for the XR6 front conversion, well that may be on the cards one day. My priority is to get it on the road and to dump my current EA Fairmont wagon.

I tried ringing the guy yesterday but couldn't get an answer, I'll try again tomorrow to have a chat.

As long as I strip the remainder out of the interior as look to see what overall effect the water has had, I think it will serve for quite a few years. A good clean and polish on the body work will do wonders, she is ultra straight.

Cheers
Bruce

As RD says, we could have done with knowing the car had been water affected.
On the bright side, it is ultra straight, very good paintwork, handles really great, the brakes seem as close to perfect as an e-series can get and all the external lights worked. The really good looking interior had been neatly stacked inside and apart from the headlight bolts, all the bits and pieces seem to be there.
He has a bit of unexpected cleaning behind the dash etc to do but at this stage it seems he has a wagon that will be the basis of a very fine family vehicle, here's hoping nothing else untoward crops up.
It was an interesting day but as RD is a real gentleman and good company, it was a pleasure to be of some help.
The hot shower at the end of the day was very welcome too!! LOL
Cheers,
Mac

good stuff guys.
good to hear forum members helping each other out

Yep, that wagon is nice and clean and straight.



But when we drained the auto oil out of the transmission this is what we got.



Not a pretty sight at all.

Cheers
BenJ

Sounds a bit like the saga with ED I just bought (in cardinal red too!), although I've been a bit luckier I guess Do you know anything else of the car's history given its got WA rego?

Nasty stuff from the transmission though, hope it lives, mine didn't look like that but had metal shavings in it.. a week later, and its lost reverse. New transmission time.

No at this stage - no further history, I am attempting to find out this week. There are some really strange signs in the car - some point to water, others don't. It is like some things have been replaced and others not. Anyway, time will tell.

What is it about cardinal red wagons and trans issues! Hope your transplant goes well....


Cheers
RD

I must say I appluad you for taking on this project, I probably would have been scared off by a car like that

I bought another auto too and in the spirit of DIY I was going to do it myself (half the point of the ED was for me to teach myself some mechanical stuff) but I'm afraid I said stuff it and took the car and new trans to the local mechanic to fit. Decided its just too difficult to swap something like that with only a driveway and jack stands instead of a hoist.

Hahaha! I am always up for a challenge (he says with confidence)

Trans extraction could be tricky on your own as well, they are heavy little buggers especially when you are lying on your back. You would need a good jack to tie it to and have a couple of helpers to give you a hand. Hope it doesn't cost too much to have it fitted.

Cheers
RD

Yeah thats pretty much the conclusion I came to. The local mechanic wants $350 including flushing the transmission out. It usually costs me around $200 to flush a transmission so I guess another $150 for fitting its pretty good.

just a thought about the water in the trans, the heat exchanger within the radiator may be cracked and the coolant maybe leaking into the trans fluid.. causing it to fill the trans with water..